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You’ve certainly been to live concerts or major sporting events. And you will agree that being a part of the crowd is a truly exhilarating experience. The cheering and chanting in unison while supporting our favorite band or team creates a unique and magical atmosphere – one that is hard to compare to anything else.
The audience is a significant driving force in the success of events. However, seamless organization, smooth flow, and high-quality content are the things that crown every event together.
How does one create a truly memorable event? Our marketing experts dive into this topic in the article below, outlining their top 11 ideas that will help you organize an event to remember!
Table of Contents
The Importance of Event Promotion
Event promotion can be defined as the process of marketing your event to people, stakeholders, and sponsors who may participate in it, boosting overall attendance, and reaching your business goals. Smart event promotion requires a clear strategic approach that helps generate awareness, and then interest in your target audiences.
More specifically, event promotion may include using various marketing channels like your website, email marketing, social media, and webinars to create awareness and share all necessary details with your audience. Truly effective promotions address the preferences, pain points, and needs of their target audiences, in addition to highlighting the key benefits of attending the event.
11 Creative Event Marketing Ideas
Just like any creative marketing strategy, the overall size of your event promotion will depend on the scale of the event itself and your budget. If you manage to get a few big sponsors, you can choose from a wide variety of both online and offline ad and marketing formats. However, that doesn’t mean that you can only spread the word if you have a massive budget. You can make waves even with limited resources and a pinch of creativity.
1. Optimize Your Registration Page
Setting up a website or dedicated page is the most powerful tool you can have in your box to promote an event. Start with a great design that grabs the attention of your target audience and optimize from there. From providing the necessary event and contact information to creating a hub for ticket payments and registrations, your event website is your first and last line of contact between your brand and attendees.
Consider the following optimization techniques:
- Usability testing: According to user experience (UX) statistics, 94% of first impressions about a website are based on its design. This means that in addition to being visually appealing, your event website should also be easy to use and navigate. You must also include all necessary information about the event (timetables, ticket prices, schedules) to spike the interest of potential attendees.
- Heat mapping: These color-coded maps represent the areas of your site that users interact the most with. Heat mapping shows which features are the most engaging, how much time people spend on your site, and more, providing valuable insights into what sections need to be optimized.
- A/B testing: This testing method enables you to test two separate versions of the same page and compare the engagement they’ve managed to generate. Several great testing tools can help you with that, but you can ask your digital marketing partners for some tips on experimenting with different call-to-actions, headlines, and design features too.
2. Use Social Media
Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and X can all help you with event promotion by enabling you to potentially reach double (or more) the size of your current following.
For instance, the US has the second-largest Facebook user base in the world with a 193.8 million people using the platform. This is not to say that you will reach everyone, but with the right creative marketing ideas, you may raise the interest your event gathers.
The best strategy is to create a dedicated Facebook event listing and share it in several relevant groups. If your budget allows, promote it on the platform as well, generating fast returns with a minimal investment.
You may also cross-promote the event through collaborating with a relevant influencer with a considerable following.
Another idea worth considering is using X to create a unique event hashtag and try to get it trending, run specials, and encourage attendees to retweet your posts for a chance to win free tickets or any other prize.
LinkedIn, on the other hand, could be a great place to attract a more professional crowd, if you’re organizing a corporate event.
3. Offer Discounts for Early Birds
Everybody loves discounts, as they offer a great way to tempt some already highly engaged leads to register for your event. Ensure that you have a set deadline for your pricing and offer limited ticket numbers. Scarcity marketing and the fear of missing out can generate just the right amount of buzz around the event, tempting people to click the “register” button.
4. Embrace Video
Today, video is the most popular content form. In addition to sharing standard footage like preparations, and behind-the-scenes, try to experiment with more creative ideas too. Consider creating a unique challenge, organizing flash mobs, or anything else that garners attention and gets people talking.
5. Embrace Augmented Reality
An exciting part of experiential marketing, augmented reality (AR) has gained more traction with the help of Snapchat filters, TikTok, and the infamous Pokemon Go game. It’s also made its way into event promotions, with marketers and promoters leveraging technology to create immersive experiences to boost potential attendees' involvement.
For instance, OnePlus created an entire AR event around the launch of its new smartphone, Nord, allowing users to check out the specifications and the features of the phone. This was the first-ever entire event hosted via AR and it was watched by over 100,000 people.
6. Consider Ad Retargeting
Many people will visit your website but will abandon it for some reason. The best way to reach these users that have already shown interest is by launching retargeting advertisements via your Google Ads account.
Another way to retarget people is through your newsletters but remember, don’t retarget just anybody – focus on those who abandoned your site during checkout or engaged with your site in other meaningful ways (e.g. subscribed to your brand’s newsletter, etc.).
7. Use Custom Infographics
Visual content is paramount for boosting social engagement for your event. Infographics can help your storytelling efforts, by providing all the information leads may be looking for in a fun and simple way. They are also highly shareable, making them an inexpensive yet effective tactic to raise more awareness about your event.
8. Promote Your Branded Merchandise
Handing out exclusive, branded merch like tote bags, T-shirts, and caps to attendees is another fun way to promote your event. Consider handing out the free merchandise before, during, and after the actual event. It may seem like a long shot, but it can incentivize people to sign up for your event for the upcoming year, as we all love free things.
9. Make Highlight Reels
As mentioned earlier, video is extremely popular at the moment, so promotional reels are a logical next step in your event marketing plan. Use footage from past events or the video material you have of your current event and create a teaser of planned activities or keynote speakers.
Make your promotional reels short and ensure that you share them across all of your social channels to maximize their potential.
10. Use QR Codes
QR codes have managed to get into event planning too, thanks to the convenience they offer.
They make it fun and easy for people to access your event website and find relevant details and schedules, while generating engagement and interest.
11. Influencer Marketing
According to marketers, content generated by influencers receives eight-times more engagement when compared to branded content. Additionally, around 60% of them said that influencer-generated content consistently outperforms branded posts.
Today, influencer marketing is integrated into every event promotion campaign. Influencers tend to have a much larger audience base than brands, so solid partnerships guarantee more credibility, trust, and loyalty, possibly resulting in more event registrations too.
That said, it’s essential to promote your event with an influencer relevant to your industry. This means they (and their followers) can identify with your brand and represent themselves as a credible event advocate.
Creative Event Marketing: The Takeaways
A big event promotion budget can surely help you generate buzz and reach a large audience. However, our article has proven that you can achieve excellent results with less money and more creativity too.
To get the most out of your existing resources, you can always reach out to an experienced team, who knows how to leverage every asset you bring to the table.
Event Marketing Ideas FAQs
Do you need sponsors to promote your event?
Sponsors can make the promotion process easier, especially if they offer significant resources. However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t promote your event without sponsorships. For instance, the eleven ideas we highlighted above rarely mention sponsors but instead suggest creative ideas that can help you reach more potential leads on a tight budget.
Can you promote your event with organic social posting only?
In theory, you can, but in practice, that probably won’t reach enough people to make any difference. However, you don’t have to create a massive social ad campaign, even just clicking on “boost” can go a long way in reaching more people.
Should you only use digital spaces for promoting your event?
If you are running a virtual or online event, then it makes perfect sense to only promote it digitally. However, if you are promoting a small, two-day local music festival, leveraging both online and offline promotional techniques can help you maximize the turnout potential of the event.
